


Hylia Could Do Her Job Better, Is All I'm Saying...

by bella_novella



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, canon typical monster fight, im very sorry, maybe slight ooc because how do legend?, my first time writing a fight scene too!, slight body horror, the boys have a bad time, there is a few bonding moments but its mostly spooks, warning for injuries, wind gets one f-word as a treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29061042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bella_novella/pseuds/bella_novella
Summary: In which the Chain find themselves in a new Hyrule. One in which the hero wasn't so lucky.Inspired by a prompt on Tumblr from this-victoria-has-no-secret
Relationships: Four & Hyrule & Legend & Sky & Time & Twilight & Warriors & Wild & Wind (Linked Universe)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Hylia Could Do Her Job Better, Is All I'm Saying...

They were in another unfamiliar Hyrule, dropped from a considerable height through the dark portal. Legend would have fallen on his head had it not been for Wild's quick thinking in grabbing his paraglider and floating close enough that Legend was able to grab the other hero's ankles and glide down alongside him. The others were saved by Hyrule's barrier spell, and were already stood and taking in the new scene when they landed. The minute his boots touched the grass below, a sudden spike of wrongness shot up his spine.

"Anyone recognise this one?" Twilight asked, making sure Epona wasn't injured from the fall. The group had landed in a sprawling green field, with a steep cliff face to their left and the beginnings of a forest peering over the hills to their right. Beyond the forest, there was what looked like the blue rooves of two guard towers, maybe a day or two away, and further than that a mountain range. By all accounts, it looked like a perfectly safe place. But the discomfort had settled itself in Legend's chest, a gut feeling that kept whispering that _something was not as it seemed_.

"It's not mine," Legend shrugged after his search for familiar landmarks turned up nothing. However wrong this place may feel, he was absolutely certain he didn't recognise it.

"Not mine either," Wild called, picking up his sword, which was now snapped in half from a fight in the previous Hyrule, and guiltily ignoring a glare from Four.

"Definitely not mine," Wind chimed, jumping down from his seat atop Warriors's shoulders. 

A small chorus started up as everyone confirmed that they didn't recognise this place. It didn't look like any of the unclaimed Hyrules they'd been in before either.

"Well, I'd say our best bet is those towers," Time said, pointing towards the forest, "We'll head that way and see if anyone can give us a map."

With a few nods and moments to adjust, the Links were moving across the field and towards the forest, sharing the usual jokes and dares. A few of the others seemed nervous, though Legend couldn't be sure if that was simply from the disorienting feeling that came with being thrown through time portals at irregular intervals. Once they reached the forest line, Twilight handed Epona's reins to Time and left to scout ahead. Legend kept his hand on his sword hilt, scanning the landscape. Eventually, he matched pace with Hyrule. Usually he wouldn't bother sharing anything that wasn't immediately important, especially if it was just a simple case of paranoia, but the feeling in his chest had only worsened once they had entered the forest, burrowing deeper and squeezing his ribcage in a cold, vice-like grip.

"Does something seem... off to you?" he asked, watching as Hyrule blinked in surprise.

"Not really, why?" he replied, though the colour had drained from his cheeks and his eyes seemed wider than usual. But it wasn't unusual for Hyrule to resemble a startled deer, so Legend decided not to jump to conclusions.

Legend bit his lip and glanced around once more.

"I don't know. This just seems weird.

"What, this Hyrule or this whole situation?" 

"Ha, ha. Seriously though, 'Rule, something's not right." 

Hyrule nodded slowly, but didn't say anything for a few moments.

"Maybe you should tell the Old Man?" he suggested, "If something's wrong, he should know." 

Legend scoffed.

"He'd probably think I'm nuts."

"What about Sky?"

"No way."

"Twilight?"

"No."

"Literally anybody?"

Legend dug the heels of his hands into his eyes.

"It's probably nothing," he decided, mostly to avoid the whole group thinking he'd lost it, "Think I'm just tired."

Hyrule nodded again, very clearly not believing him, before looking towards the rest of the group.

"We'll have to stop soon," he said, "It looks like it's getting dark."

Up ahead, Wind let out a loud yawn. To cover it up, he yelled ahead, "Warriors is tired, when are we stopping?" and received a defensive, "I am _not_!" in response. Time chuckled and shook his head.

"Not long. Twilight will be back soon," he called back, "Warriors can ride on Epona for a bit if he wants."

"I am _not_ tired," Warriors glared. He grabbed Wind under one arm and hoisted him onto Epona's back, causing Wind to cry out in surprise and fake annoyance. 

As Warriors and Wind continued bickering over who was more tired (with Sky desperately trying to make sure Wind didn't fall off the horse), Twilight appeared from a particularly dark shadow in the trees. He was moving more stiffly than usual, but Legend couldn't see any sign of him being hurt. 

"There's a clearing about twenty minutes from here," he told the group, "Should be alright to rest there for the night."

With their destination set, the group seemed in much higher spirits and picked up the pace in hopes of making it there before the moon rose. At the back of the group, Legend continued glancing into the shadows, ready for a fight. At one point, he could have sworn he saw a pair of eyes blinking at him from the branches of a tree, but they were gone before he could tell anyone else.

*~*~*

The clearing was larger and slightly more open than most of the group would have liked, but it was certainly better than walking all night. Each of them settled down and began picking spots to sleep, sorting out the watch schedule for the night while Wild began dinner (assisted tonight by Four, although everyone knew he had only offered his help in his quest to stop Wild breaking every weapon he owned. There had been no progress so far).

Meanwhile, Legend was given first watch, which he couldn't decide if he was happy for or not. The pervasive feeling of wrongness had only grown as darkness had fallen. It now felt more like an itching all over his skin rather than simply a gut feeling, which certainly hadn't made him feel any better. Though, looking around at the others, it seemed they were beginning to feel the same about this Hyrule, with the other members ranging from slightly jumpy to pale-faced and paranoid.

Twilight had been walking the perimeter of the clearing since they had arrived, sword kept close by his side and eyes trained on the darkness just beyond. Legend decided to join him.

"Doing alright there?" he asked, almost losing his head when Twilight startled so violently he nearly drew his sword to attack. Legend backed up, hands raised in surrender.

"Legend! Sorry," he said, keeping his voice low. His eyes were wide with worry. Legend shrugged.

"S'fine. You feeling ok?"

Twilight nodded stiffly.

"Something's really not right about this place," he whispered, "I don't want to worry anyone else, but I think we might have more trouble waiting here than it first seemed."

Legend breathed a silent sigh of relief. It was good to have confirmation that he wasn't going crazy, but it was soured by the idea that there may actually be something malicious stalking them. The two turned to look into the forest.

"Think something's waiting out there?" Legend asked, then silently cursed himself for suggesting it.

"I don't know," Twilight kept his eyes locked on the darkness, "But I certainly won't be sleeping well tonight."

"Should we double up the watches?"

Twilight considered for a moment.

"I'll suggest it to the Old Man."

With that, he left for the centre of camp, keeping alert to the forest around him. Legend cast a final glance at the woods, before following and setting his bedroll and bag down. Closer to the others than he normally would have, but he would rather sleep there than get carried off by monsters in the dead of night.

*~*~*

Over dinner, it was decided that Legend and Four would take first watch. Apparently, Time had agreed with Twilight's suggestion and had given everyone a paired watch for the night.

"We'll see how it goes tonight," he told the group, "If it turns out to be worse than the single watches, we'll switch back to them."

No one seemed to want to object to it, especially when all of them were startling at snapped twigs in the bushes and keeping their voices much lower than the usual cacophony of noise and laughter that came with evening meals. Having a partner on watch would certainly ease the fear in the air, even if only a little.

Once dinner had been finished and goodnights had been said, each Link returned to their bedrolls to sleep. Four and Legend remained by the fire, talking in hushed tones and keeping a vigilant eye on the clearing.

It seemed to be one of those nights where the whole group had a hard time sleeping, if the persistent stirring and shifting had anything to say about it. If Legend had to guess, he didn't think anyone was actually asleep.

Eventually, Four sighed quietly and lowered his voice further.

"I don't know about you, but I've had this weird... creeping feeling all day," he admitted.

Legend hummed in response, before asking, "Like itchy skin?"

Four thought for a moment.

"Not itchy skin, more like, um, eyes? Like someone's been staring at the back of my neck all day."

"Well, I can tell you now, it wasn't me," Legend joked, earning a small chuckle from Four.

"This place is just weird. I think it's had everyone on edge." Four looked at the rest of the group, huddled in their blankets. Some of them appeared to be falling asleep at last. Legend watched as Sky assumed his usual starfish sleeping position and Wind's breathing began to even out.

"Agreed," he said, "Let's hope we'll be moving on soon."

"Fingers crossed," Four nodded.

Legend had just turned his full attention back to keeping watch, when he suddenly remembered the eyes in the tree from earlier that day.

"Hey Four?" he began, "You didn't happen to see..."

He was cut off as a loud, childish giggle started from behind him. 

He straightened up and turned around, sword drawn, but all he saw was the flickering shadows of the woods in the firelight. Four was on his feet too, stood ready to yell to the others and fight. Time, evidently having not fallen asleep yet, had grabbed his sword and come to join them, leaving Warriors and Twilight to wake the others.

"You heard that?" Legend asked, readying himself mentally for whatever may walk out of the woods. Four nodded, while Time mumbled, "Unfortunately."

The others, still dressed mostly in pajamas and sporting their usual weaponry, came to join. All nine stood silently, each ready to strike.

A second giggle echoed throughout, ringing through the clearing painfully. Shuffling footsteps sounded, making their way closer as a voice whispered, sing-song.

" **Nine little heroes, cornered and afraid.** "

Everyone tensed as the group changed formation, ready for an attack on all sides. The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere, impossible to pinpoint. Legend scanned the area he had first heard the voice obsessively, until a figure emerged from the gloom.

The figure was about the same height as him, head lowered and mouth split in an unnatural, white smile. It was hard to make out anything else through the dark, chilling fog settling along the forest floor.

" **Where are you, heroes?** " 

As it shuffled closer, the smile only seemed to grow, though the rest of the figure remained a living silhouette. That was, until the figure shuffled into the moonlight.

It was covered in sludge, black and stringy and red-tainted. The sludge fell from the figure's fingers in chunks, leaving a trail behind it.

" **W** **here are you?** "

Legend felt Wild stiffen next to him.

"It's covered in malice," he told them, voice quivering.

The figure suddenly lifted it's head, revealing one horrifically bloodshot eye that twitched uncontrollably in its socket.

" **Found you.** "

It lurched forward, setting its sights on the group and reaching its hands forward as though to grab them. Legend yelled for the others, as their attacker grabbed his wrist and twisted it.

Legend cried out as he felt his wrist pop and grind, and Four quickly brought his sword down on the figure's grip. Its hand was sliced from the wrist as though it were made of butter, however the newly lost limb only seemed to add to its unnerving grin. Legend picked up his sword with his undamaged arm and stood, blinking away tears and white shots of pain. The severed hand fell away as if it were made of water, sending shivers up Legend's spine.

The figure had turned it attention to Sky, now trying to grab hold of him as he stabbed back at it. The others ran over to help, but were quickly stopped when a large group of other monsters emerged from the shadows and cut them off. Legend was quick enough to jump over the moblin club swung at him, jostling his wrist and sending more spikes of pain up his arm. The figure was still giggling incessantly. 

"How do we kill it?" Wind yelled, as he dodged a fast-approaching lizafos and sent it running face-first into a tree.

"I have no..." Wild cut himself off mid-sentence, batting away a bokoblin's shield, "The eye! Hit it in the eye!"

Sky delivered another slashing attack to the monster's chest, which immediately reformed as soon as his sword passed through.

"With what?"

"Anything!" Wild called, as the giggles grew louder.

"Just hit the damn thing!" Warriors called, making quick work of a bokoblin and running to Sky's side with his shield raised. Sky raised his sword and brought it down with as much force as he could, but the monster ducked and grabbed Sky's leg. It pulled as hard as it could, earning a scream from the hero before his leg buckled beneath him. The figure laughed in glee, batting Warriors aside and sending him tumbling before turning to the rest of the group.

Four was it's next target, as it ran jerkily over to him and grabbed the bottom of the hero's shield. Reacting quickly, Four began trying to slash its remaining hand off, leaving him open for a bokoblin club straight to the back of his skull. Luckily, the blow didn't knock him out, instead just staggering him before Twilight stepped in to cover his back and Hyrule ran by, sweeping the figure's legs out from under it and throwing a fire spell at the thing's torso for good measure.

As with the hand, the figure's legs were cut off easily. However, as the figure lay on the ground, still giggling madly, the watery remains of its legs began to reform, and in seconds it was back up and racing around the battlefield again, the fire quickly going out.

Next, it moved towards Wild, weaving its way past the other monsters until it was stood over him. Before it could do anything, Time ran forward and slashed at it, landing a hit on its face. The figure briefly stopped laughing to shriek in pain, before fixing Time with a stare filled with burning rage and grabbing his forearm with its good hand. It threw Time across the clearing, sending him flying into a nearby tree trunk. The hero picked himself up, wobbling on his feet. Sky, limping on his injured leg, slashed through a lizafos's face before running over to help him. The figure fell onto its back, wiggling and screaming with laughter.

"Tough fucker," Wind spat as he rushed forward, raising his sword and landing a hit straight onto the unsuspecting monster's eye. It shrieked once again, a high-pitched noise that caused the heroes to instinctively cover their ears. Luckily, the monsters seemed to have the same issue, causing the battle to come to a brief stand-still.

Legend watched as Wild quickly took his hands away from his ears and nocked an arrow, sending it flying towards the thing's eye.

The third hit seemed to do the trick, as the figure shrieked one final time before slumping towards the ground. The mostly uninjured heroes quickly took care of the remaining monsters, most of which seemed to lose any fighting spirit and retreat back into the woods.

"Please tell me that the stupid thing is dead," Warriors panted, running a hand through his hair. 

Legend sheathed his sword and winced at his wrist, the adrenaline finally starting to wear off and the pain starting to grow more and more. Plus, it felt like someone was playing the drums on his skull because of the ringing, along with feeling like his ears were full off cotton. Hyrule was already fixing up any major injuries in the group, so Legend decided to wait by his bedroll and try his best to set the wrist right, maybe take a red potion. Many of the heroes simply fell on the ground where they were, bleeding from various cuts and trying to catch their breath. 

On the other side of the clearing, Twilight was inspecting the body, crouched over it and poking it with a stick.

"If that thing gets back up, I'll kill you," Legend called, wincing at how loud and muffled his voice sounded, like yelling underwater. Twilight didn't react, instead poking the thing's remaining arm - it's left one - and trying to wipe away the sludge on the back of it. He suddenly stood up, a sort of dazed confusion on his face. He mumbled something that Legend couldn't hear through his pulsing skull.

"Speak up, farm boy, I can't hear you."

"This monster has a triforce."

The whole group paused.

"A what?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're not serious."

Twilight looked up, still dazed. He grabbed the figure's wrist, ignoring the remaining malice, and brought it up to show the group.

"This monster has a triforce," he repeated, "The triforce of courage."

Sure enough, the bottom right triangle was filled in, but it had faded and was now almost the only visible part of the symbol.

A puzzled silence fell over the group. Why would a monster have the triforce of courage? Hylia, why would a monster have any part of the triforce? Unless...

Legend got up and walked over to the body, turning it onto its back to inspect the face. At first, it just looked like a sludge-covered mess, until he followed Twilight's example and began flicking the disgusting stuff off the figure's face.

Sure enough, little similarities between some of the others appeared, like some of their features but mixed and edited ever so slightly. It was a trait amongst a few of them that had initially seemed a little uncanny, but was now something they barely thought about. The others slowly gathered around the body, a slow sense of realisation dawning on them.

"I think this monster was one of us," Twilight finally spoke, sounding distant. The others remained motionless, staring down at the corrupted hero. Legend stared down at the body, taking a deep breath.

"What in Hylia's name happened here?"

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt said black blood but I don't have the greatest memory so it turned into malice, sorry. 
> 
> Also I feel its important to mention that I just put all the characters names into a wheel generator for the 'Who Gets Hurt' decision and every time the wheel landed on someone it put confetti all over my screen. Yay?
> 
> Apologies for any errors, I wrote this late at night.
> 
> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
